


Like a Picture of a Sunny Day

by speakpirate



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Hanily, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 11:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14851553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speakpirate/pseuds/speakpirate
Summary: The summer before sophomore year, Hanna realizes the way Emily looks at Ali is different.





	Like a Picture of a Sunny Day

**Author's Note:**

> _Happy Pride Month! I’m celebrating by digging some half-finished fics out of my docs and making finished femslash out of them. This was an early draft for the Hanily fic of my If I Show You series, but then I scrapped this concept and wrote Last Year’s Bag instead._
> 
> ————————-

The summer Hanna turns fourteen, she becomes an expert at hiding in plain sight. She doesn’t want anyone looking at her, staring at her too wide hips or her too flabby stomach. She wears layers at all times, and lives in fear of being dropped by Alison DiLaurentis, which she knows would lead to being a complete social outcast for the rest of high school. Possibly the rest of her life.

She goes to the lake with the group, reads magazines while they sunbathe. She feels nauseous most of the time, worried that Alison will get bored enough to lob a Hefty Hanna joke her way. Her nerves are jangly all the time. She watches Alison constantly, on the look out for signs her mood is shifting in a direction that could be nasty for Hanna.

They all keep an eye on Alison, of course. They take their cues from her, try to get a piece of that magic she has - the careful way she curates her image, the way she flirts with older guys, the way she effortlessly deploys a mix of elaborate lies and cutting words to keep her enemies in check. 

She’s not sure when she realizes that the way Emily looks at Alison is different, but once she does, it’s impossible to ignore. Furtive glances at Ali’s long legs as she stretches out on the lounge chair. The way she blushes when Alison flaunts a new bikini top.

For her part, Ali seems to eat up Emily’s attention. Shocker. She’s like a cat licking cream. 

When she runs her fingers lightly over Emily’s wrist, the poor girl shivers. In the middle of a heatwave.

One afternoon Ali makes a big production of having Emily slather sunscreen over her back. She lays prone on the chaise practically purring with satisfaction.

Then, she flounces off to flirt with a very muscley, very male lifeguard.

Hanna sees Emily’s face crumple. She doesn’t know what to say. Emily _has_ a boyfriend, after all. And it’s not like they’re best friends. Or they are, but only because they’re both friends with Alison.

Alison, who is now running her hand over the lifeguard’s bare chest and laughing.

Emily’s eyes are brimming with tears. 

“It’s really bright out,” Hanna says, handing Emily her sunglasses and an old issue of Scarlet that she’s already read three times.

“Thanks,” Emily mumbles, and Hanna instinctively squeezes her hand, a quiet gesture of sympathy.

“He’s not even that cute.”

Emily shoots her a confused look that’s half-fear, half-surprise. 

Then she disappears, hiding her eyes underneath the dark glasses, her face fully concealed by the magazine.

When Alison realizes that Emily isn’t watching, she loses interest in the lifeguard and breezes back towards them. 

“What are you reading, Em? Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition?”

Emily turns red, her bottom lip quivering slightly. She’s hardly ever on Alison’s bad side. 

“We’re looking for my perfect summer lip shade,” Hanna replies. 

Then she gulps. She can feel it coming. Speaking to Alison before she speaks to you is as good as throwing yourself on a grenade.

“Do they have a piggy pink?” Alison snapped. “That’d be perfect for you, Han.”

Hanna flinches. Alison grabs her bag and storms off in a huff.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Emily says, quietly. 

“It’s no big deal,” Hanna tells her. 

Even though they both know it’s a lie. 

After that, it felt like they maybe have a secret alliance.

It’s the kind of thing Alison is normally good at quashing, like a bug beneath her heel. But Alison seems distracted lately, absorbed by various secret missions of her own. 

Hanna invites Emily to hang out at the mall and have cupcakes at Lucky Leon’s. She orders the ones with rainbow sprinkles, but Emily doesn’t seem to notice.

Emily asks Hanna to come over to her house for dinner, and afterwards they lay in the grass and watch fireflies in the backyard. Hanna mentions watching Ryan Reynolds on Ellen, but Emily doesn’t seem to get the hint that it would be okay to talk about any Ellen-type issues she might be having.

Not that it matters. Whatever else is going on with Emily, she’s actually good company.

They have a sleepover at Hanna’s, and spend half the night watching Beyonce videos and trying to copy the dance moves. They collapse in a heap of giggles on the pull out sofa and fall asleep, Emily’s arm behind Hanna’s neck.

The next night they crash at Emily’s. They order Chinese food and binge watch an entire season of Project Runway.

“I bet you’ll be on that show someday,” Emily says. 

“When they have a special season for plus sized elephant designers,” Hanna replies, automatically.

Emily rolls over and looks Hanna right in the eye. “Don’t say that.”

“Why? It’s the truth.”

“Just because Alison says something, that doesn’t make it true.”

Hanna thinks about that for a long time. It makes her insides feel warm and buzzy.

“I hear you two are getting awfully cozy,” Alison says when she shows up again. Her voice is light, but venomous. Hanna mentally braces for impact. “Be careful, hon. I’d hate for people to get the wrong idea.” 

“What are you talking about?” Spencer asks, adjusting her glasses.

“Eavesdrop much?” Alison snarks, then lets it go.

Hanna wonders if she’s playing with fire, asking Emily to hang out when Alison takes off for two weeks in Cape May. But it’s nice to have a friend she can relax around, who isn’t constantly trying to tear her down.

Besides, it kind of seems like Alison might be jealous.

Emily wants to watch a zombie movie, but lets Hanna pick a rom com with Kate Hudson instead.

“I’m going to pretend it’s a zombie movie,” she says. “Like, at any moment the zombies might come and eat their brains.”

Hanna waits until the meet cute, then grabs Emily’s shoulder and pretends to bite her ear. Emily shrieks and laughs so hard she has trouble catching her breath.

After the movie, they lay on their stomachs on the floor, flipping through the latest issue of Cosmo together. There’s a quiz about whether or not your crush is into you, which Emily moves past so fast she nearly rips the page out.

“Can I ask you something?” Hanna says.

Emily tenses up. “I guess so. You just did.”

“Do you have a crush on Alison?”

Emily freezes. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. Do you? It’s not weird or whatever. I just wondered.”

“I’m gonna go,” Emily announces, as she stands up abruptly.

Hanna grabs her wrist, gently. “I’m sorry, okay? It’s just, you could do better.”

Emily hesitates. “Is this some kind of trick? Did she put you up to this?”

“No!” Hanna protests. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I swear.”

Emily looks at Hanna’s fingers, which are still clutching her wrist. Hanna isn’t a doctor or anything, but she’s pretty sure Emily’s pulse is racing.

“Well, I’m not _like that,_ ” Emily says, extricating herself from Hanna’s grasp. She sits down a few feet away on the sofa, her arms folded across her chest. “I have a boyfriend.”

“I know,” Hanna says, plopping down on the other end of the couch. “Forget I said anything. It was stupid.” She half-expects Emily to take off, but she just sits there looking miserable.

“Do you want ice cream?” Hanna asks, after a few minutes of awkward silence.

“Okay.”

They stand around the kitchen island as Hanna dishes out huge scoops of chocolate ice cream. Emily still isn’t speaking to her, so there’s no sound for a long time except the scrape of their spoons against the white ceramic bowls. 

“I thought we were friends,” Emily says, finally.

“We are friends! I just ate like a bazillionty calories in front of you.”

“You think I’m a freak,” Emily says in the smallest voice Hanna’s ever heard.

“No, I don’t!” Hanna sighs in exasperation. “Listen, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anybody else?”

Emily nods, warily.

“I had a crush on somebody - it doesn’t matter who. And it felt all floaty and special and then Ali found out and she - she made it seem pervy and gross.”

Emily looks like she might have stopped breathing. “Was it - who was it?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hanna says, quickly. “Just some guy.”

“Oh,” Emily says, sounding a little disappointed.

“The point is - it’s like what you said to me. Just because Alison says something, that doesn’t mean she’s right.”

Emily swallows hard, then busies herself rising their bowls and loading them into the dishwasher. She’s a really good house guest.

“Do you still want me to stay over?” she asks.

“Of course,” Hanna assures her. “If you still want to.”

“If I go home, my mom will know we had a fight. She’ll ask a million questions.”

“You could tell her I snore.”

“You do snore.”

“I don’t!”

“You snore like a water buffalo.”

“How would you know what a water buffalo sounds like?”

And just like that, things are normal again. Until they get upstairs to Hanna’s bedroom and Emily starts pulling a bunch of pillows and her sleeping bag onto the floor. 

Hanna responds by pulling all of her blankets and pillows onto the floor, piling them next to Emily’s. 

“What are you doing?” Emily asks, confused.

Hanna shrugs. “If you’re sleeping on the floor, so am I.”

“Why are you being so nice?”

“Because we’re friends. Duh.”

Emily’s smile is the last thing Hanna sees as she turns off the lights.

It feels like hours later, but it might only be a few minutes, when Emily scoots a little closer.

“Are you asleep?”

Hanna rolls over. “Not really.”

“How do you know?”

“Know what? What are you asking me?”

“How do you know if you’re like, a hundred percent straight?”

Hanna thinks it over before answering. “I guess I don’t. Maybe nobody is a hundred percent one way or the other.”

“Seriously?”

“I mean, I’m not an expert or anything,” Hanna tells her. “I’ve kissed like two guys and one of them was at camp and I’m pretty sure his friends dared him to do it, so that barely even counts.”

“But you like kissing boys.”

“Yeah. But I’ve never kissed a girl. Maybe I’d like that, too.”

“You really think most people aren’t just one way or the other?”

“There are nine different styles of slingbacks in my closet. No way are people less complicated than shoes.”

Emily gets quiet. 

“Hey,” Hanna says. “Don’t fall asleep yet.”

Emily rustles around in her blankets. “Why not?”

Hanna thinks about Alison, the part of her mojo that lets her do whatever she wants, the moment that she wants to. No hesitation. No regrets.

“Because we haven’t done this yet.”

Hanna takes Emily’s face in both of her hands and slowly presses their lips together. She fights back a giggle as their noses smoosh, but then Emily does a thing where she sucks a little on Hanna’s bottom lip and Hanna feels like a birthday cake with all the candles lit up. Instinctively, she opens her mouth a little, darts her tongue out and twirls it against Emily’s.

Emily pulls back first. She puts a hand against her lips, as if she wants to make sure they’re still there, still the same. She’s flushed, Hanna notices,and her eyes look kind of smokey.

“Oh god, did I bite you?” Hanna asks. 

“No.”

“Tell me the truth. Am I a terrible kisser?”

Emily swats her with a pillow instead of answering.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing,” she says, as they settle back into the haphazard nest of bedding. “To be like ninety-eight percent straight.”

“Totally,” Hanna agrees. If she dated a girl, she probably wouldn’t have to worry about sucking in her tummy. And she’d have access to twice as many clothes.

“Promise you won’t tell Ali. Or anyone.”

Hanna reaches over and squeezes Emily’s hand.

“Of course not. It’s our little secret.”


End file.
